Stridor in a child can be acute or chronic. Table 1 shows the common causes of acute and chronic stridor. The diagnosis and treatment of the causes of chronic stridor are outside the scope of this module.
Table 1 Common causes of acute and chronic stridor
| Acute Stridor |
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Chronic Stridor |
Excluding croup, the most likely causes of acute stridor are:
- Foreign body aspiration (see next page)
- Angioedema
- Abscess (peri-tonsillar or parapharngeal)
- Epiglottitis
- Bacterial tracheitis
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- Laryngomalacia (75% of cases of chronic stridor. It is due to a congenital abnormality of the laryngeal cartilage causing it to collapse on inspiration. 99% resolves spontaneously by the age of two years)
- Vocal cord dysfunction
- Subglottic stenosis
- Laryngeal webs
- Laryngeal cysts
- Laryngeal heamangioma
- Tracheamalacia
- Tracheal stenosis
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